Monday, June 13, 2011

OLD AND NEW: Alice Stewart and Alex Reed, the former and current press aides to Secretary of State Mark Martin.

MICHELE BACHMANN

Now I see why Alice Stewart didn't return my call about Secretary of State Mark Martin's huge parking fee increase.

Martin's press secretary, who carried the title of deputy secretaryof state, resigned today. She's a former news reporter, served a long stint in Gov. Mike Huckabee's press operation (and on his presidential campaign) and moonlights as a commentator on Fox News. Twitter traffic indicates she's heading to the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

A new office spokesman confirmed the rumor we'd heard she left after another office employee had first denied knowledge, but official confirmation of her Bachmann job hasn't arrived just yet. But several outlets are reporting that she'll be Bachmann's national spokeswoman and on hand for the New Hampshire debate tonight.

Alex Reed is the new spokesman for Martin's office. He said Stewart left to pursue "new opportunities." Word came later of an apparent Bachmann move. Bachmann has attracted others who worked in the 2008 Huckabee presidential run, including former campaign boss Ed Rollins.

This sounded, at first blush, a little like one of those shoot-the-messenger deals. But no. She was, however, the third top hand, after Teresa Belew and Princella Smith, to depart the office less than six months into the term. I don't think the Bachmann campaign will be any bed of roses, however. The official news release on Stewart's office departure doesn't add much:

Alice Stewart is no longer with the Secretary of State's office, and taken has another opprotunity elsewhere. Please refer all inquiries of Secretary of State Mark Martin's office to Alex Reed at (501) 682-1010, or by email at alex.reed@sos.arkansas.gov.

As promised, Rep.-elect Andy Mayberry (R-East End) has filed a bill that would virtually ban all second trimester abortions in Arkansas. /more/

The Governor's office today announced the creation of an "Office of Transformation" along with a new chief officer for the agency, with Gov. Asa Hutchinson saying the goal of the office would be to "drive efficiency" in government and streamline state operations. /more/

No state political party in the modern era has had a more abrupt fall than Arkansas's Democrats /more/

The article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today about the new gates to keep vehicular traffic from the state Capitol on weekends did not mention what handicapped folks might do if they want to visit to see the ground floor exhibits or the Christmas display. They can no longer be dropped off at the entrance. I know someone in a wheelchair, so I thought I'd ask Chris Powell, spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin. /more/

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Michael Wickline reported this morning that, for the second time in four years, Republican Rep. Mark Lowery had been cited by the state Ethics Commission for failing to comply with campaign finance reporting law. The minor penalty won't discourage similar in the future. /more/

Why is Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin so unhappy about the Democrats' packing of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. A self-aggrandizing special interest tax break is why. /more/

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a lower court ruling that a Ten Commandments monument built with private donations and erected outside the Bloomfield, N.M. City Hall was a constitutional violation. /more/

Hendrix College professor and Times columnist Jay Barth has put together an analysis of the election Tuesday on the demographics that brought Donald Trump and medical marijuana victories in Arkansas.A familiar Republican coalition, plus the now famous less-educated white voter, gave Trump a big win. Marijuana is harder to pin down. /more/

A couple of Arkansas Republican legislators rise to the defense of the Duggars. It's a family matter, they say. We beg to differ.

We take a visit to the weekly hot check court in Sherwood District Court, the subject of a recent civil rights lawsuit filed by ACLU Arkansas and others, who say the system there results in a modern-day debtor's prison

An op-ed in today's New York Time by Katha Pollitt says what I've been struggling to say about the reaction to the attack on women's reproductive rights launched by means of the undercover videos made by anti-abortion activists.

by Max Brantley

Aug 5, 2015

Most Shared

Next week a series of meetings on the use of technology to tackle global problems will be held in Little Rock by Club de Madrid — a coalition of more than 100 former democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world — and the P80 Group, a coalition of large public pension and sovereign wealth funds founded by Prince Charles to combat climate change. The conference will discuss deploying existing technologies to increase access to food, water, energy, clean environment, and medical care.

Plus, recipes from the Times staff.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) was on "Capitol View" on KARK, Channel 4, this morning, and among other things that will likely inspire you to yell at your computer screen, he said he expects someone in the legislature to file a bill to do ... something about changing the name of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

So fed up was young Edgar Welch of Salisbury, N.C., that Hillary Clinton was getting away with running a child-sex ring that he grabbed a couple of guns last Sunday, drove 360 miles to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., where Clinton was supposed to be holding the kids as sex slaves, and fired his AR-15 into the floor to clear the joint of pizza cravers and conduct his own investigation of the pedophilia syndicate of the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

There is almost nothing real about "reality TV." All but the dullest viewers understand that the dramatic twists and turns on shows like "The Bachelor" or "Celebrity Apprentice" are scripted in advance. More or less like professional wrestling, Donald Trump's previous claim to fame.

Longtime KARK anchor Beth Ward died last night from complications of heart surgery, according to a report from THV11.

Rep. Kim Hendren this week filed a bill to prohibits the use of cell phones, pagers, beepers, digital media players, digital cameras, digital game consoles, and digital video or audio recorders for public students during the school day.